UMASS/AMHe&3T 


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M 


John  Herman  Randall 


DATE  DUE 

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1909 


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Rabbi  Jacob  Freedman 


MIND  AND  BODY 


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1 


MIND  and  BODY 


By 

J.  HERMAN  RANDALL 


NEW   YORK 
DODGE   PUBLISHING   COMPANY 

33  55    FIFTH  AVENUE 


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Copyright.    1909 
By  H.  M.  CALDWELL  CO. 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 


O  the  most  casual  observer, 
religious  thought  in  America 
is  just  now  very  much  ab- 
sorbed in  the  Gospel  of  Heal- 
ing. It  would  almost  seem  in  reading 
the  daily  papers,  not  to  speak  of  the 
more  exhaustive  literature  on  the  sub- 
ject, as  if  Religion,  Medicine  and 
Psychology  had  joined  hands  in  form- 
ing a  New  Religion,  that  is  apparently 
sweeping  this  country  from  end  to  end. 
Many  writers  have  referred  to  this 
striking  movement  as  a  "  new  faith ; ' 
and  yet,  in  the  minds  of  its  leaders  it  is 
not  so  much  a  new  Faith,  as  it  is  a 
return  to  the  original  Faith  of  Jesus  of 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

Nazareth.  As  we  read  the  Gospels,  we 
cannot  escape  the  conviction  that  Jesus 
regarded  His  work  in  the  world  as  two- 
fold: It  was  (1)  to  preach  the  Gospel 
of  the  Kingdom,  and  (2)  to  heal  the 
sick.  It  is  certainly  significant,  when 
one  stops  to  reflect  upon  the  Gospel 
narrative,  how  much  of  His  time  and 
energy  was  spent  in  caring  for  the 
bodies  of  men.  The  Founder  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  whom  we  see  the  revelation 
of  a  truly  spiritual  religion,  spent  con- 
siderably more  time  in  looking  after 
people's  physical  welfare  than  He  did 
in  preaching  sermons.  When  He  sends 
forth  His  Apostles,  to  continue  the 
work  which  He  had  begun,  He  entrusts 
to  them  the  same  two-fold  Commis- 
sion: they  are  to  preach  the  Gospel 
of  the  Kingdom,  and  they  are  to  heal 
the  sick.  And  then,  in  His  final 
words  of  instruction  and  encouragement 
He   says,   "  And    greater  works    than 

4 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

these,  will  ye  do."  The  view  of  the 
Church  in  these  later  centuries  has 
been,  that  the  power  which  Jesus 
exercised  in  healing  the  sick  was  super- 
natural, a  power  with  which  He  was 
endowed,  as  being  peculiarly  the  Son 
of  God,  a  power  that  has  not  been 
vouchsafed  to  others,  a  power  that  the 
Church  does  not  possess  to-day.  The 
age  of  such  "  miracles,"  at  least  so  says 
the  Protestant  world,  ended  with  the 
Apostles. 

And  yet  if  we  admit  that  these  won- 
ders were  wrought,  if  we  accept  as 
historical  these  stories,  telling  of  how 
Jesus  went  about  healing  the  sick,  or 
how  they  brought  their  sick  to  be  healed 
by  Him,  certainly  we  are  bound  to 
admit  that  it  must  have  been  due  to 
powers  that  were  not  contrary  to  law, 
but  rather  that  proceeded  from  the 
knowledge  of  higher  laws.  Few  intel- 
ligent  persons   to-day   would   care   to 

5 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

claim  that  these  healing  works  of  Jesus 
were  miracles  in  the  old  sense,  of  being 
exceptions  to  the  great  universal  work- 
ing of  God's  laws.  If  He  did  these 
things  which  the  Gospels  record,  it 
must  have  been  because  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  some  power  perfectly  natural 
which  He  understood,  and  of  which  we, 
at  least  until  recently,  have  been  igno- 
rant. The  meaning  of  the  word 
"  miracle,"  as  used  in  the  Gospels,  is 
"  wonder,"  or  "  marvel,"  —  something 
so  extraordinary  that  it  was  not  un- 
derstood by  those  who  witnessed  it.  It 
by  no  means  implies  an  act  contrary  to 
law. 

Many  of  the  leaders  of  the  present 
movement  to  unite  Religion  and  Medi- 
cine are  telling  us  that  the  Church 
has  been  shorn  of  its  powers  very 
largely,  because  it  has  neglected  one- 
half  of  the  work  entrusted  to  it  viz., 
the  healing  of  the  sick.     One  of  the 

6 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

strongest  arguments  for  Christian  Sci- 
ence lies  in  the  fact  that  it  has  en- 
deavoured, however  faulty  its  philos- 
ophy, or  whatever  failures  it  may  have 
made  in  individual  cases,  to  not  only 
preach  the  Gospel  as  interpreted  by 
Mrs.  Eddy,  but  to  heal  the  sick  as 
well.  And  in  the  face  of  undisputed 
cures  accomplished,  the  churches  have 
had  nothing  to  say,  except  to  make 
the  old  excuse  that  the  age  when  the 
Church  should  care  for  the  bodies  of 
men  has  gone  by,  and  all  healing  of 
the  sick  should  now  be  left  to  skilled 
and  trained  physicians. 

Whatever  may  be  our  personal  opin- 
ions as  to  the  efficacy  of  Mental  Heal- 
ing, or  as  to  the  function  of  the  Church 
in  healing  the  sick,  certainly  no  person 
of  intelligence  to-day,  within  the  Church 
or  outside,  can  fail  to  be  respectful  in 
the  presence  of  a  movement  which  has 
already    assumed    such     proportions, 

7 


M1JNJJ   AND   MEDICINE 

created  so  large  a  literature,  and  en- 
rolled so  many  illustrious  names  among 
its  leaders.  The  time  has  arrived  when 
ridicule  and  condemnation  should  give 
place  to  a  frank  and  sympathetic 
endeavour  to  sift  the  truth  from  error, 
and  discover  the  facts. 

With  all  due  credit  to  the  Christian 
Science  movement  for  the  way  in 
which  it  has  called  the  attention  of  the 
Church  in  general  to  this  phase  of 
work,  nevertheless  the  modern  scientific 
interest  in  the  cure  of  the  body  through 
the  aid  of  the  mind  antedates  by  several 
years  the  organization  of  Christian 
Science.  Psychotherapy,  or  in  plain 
English,  Mind  Healing,  received  its 
latter-day  momentum  about  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  when  Charcot,  Freud 
and  Janet  gave  it  new  impulse  by 
their  researches  and  teachings.  The 
present  popular  interest,  outside  of 
Christian  Science  circles,  may  be  said  to 

8 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

date  from  the  institution  of  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Emmanuel  Movement, 
in  connection  with  the  old  Episcopal 
Church  of  that  name  in  Boston.  Most 
people  by  this  time  are  familiar  with 
the  story.  Dr.  Worcester  of  Emmanuel 
Church  had  formerly  been  rector  of  one 
of  the  leading  Episcopal  Churches  in 
Philadelphia.  In  his  congregation  was 
Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  the  Dean  of  the 
Medical  Profession  in  America.  In 
frequent  conversations,  Dr.  Mitchell 
expressed  the  desire  that  the  two  Pro- 
fessions of  Medicine  and  the  Ministry 
might  be  brought  into  closer  and  more 
vital  relationship.  Dr.  Mitchell  ex- 
plained fully  his  views  as  to  the  way  in 
which  the  ministry,  rightly  trained, 
could  tremendously  supplement  the 
work  of  the  physician,  and  vice  versa, 
how  the  physician  could  supplement 
and  aid  the  work  of  the  minister.  With 
this  idea  in  mind,  Dr.  Worcester  re- 

9 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

signed  his  Philadelphia  church,  and 
went  abroad,  where  he  spent  several 
years  in  special  studies  in  Psychology. 
Finally  he  returned  to  the  Emmanuel 
Church  in  Boston,  and  with  the  assist- 
ance of  Dr.  McComb,  also  a  specially 
trained  man,  instituted  what  is  now 
known  throughout  the  country  as  the 
Emmanuel  Movement.  Before  this 
movement  really  assumed  proportions, 
Emmanuel  Church  had  been  doing  con- 
siderable work  for  the  poor  who  were 
afflicted  with  tuberculosis.  It  em- 
ployed only  the  latest  and  most  sci- 
entific methods  for  the  treatment  of 
this  disease.  The  hospital  was  adapted 
to  out-of-door  treatment,  and  tents 
were  rented  to  those  who  could  afford 
to  pay  —  and  all  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Church.  Dr.  Worcester  has  made 
the  statement  that  this  work  with 
tubercular  patients  has  resulted  in 
eighty  per  cent,  of  cures.    About  three 

10 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

years  ago,  a  clinic  was  established  in 
connection  with  the  church.  Physi- 
cians of  standing  were  added  to  the  staff, 
giving  their  services  gratuitously.  Every 
person  who  applied  for  help  was  turned 
over  to  these  scientifically  trained  men. 
Each  individual  case  was  diagnosed. 
If  it  was  discovered  that  the  trouble 
was  organic,  the  case  was  turned  over 
to  the  proper  physician  or  surgeon.  If 
the  disease  was  diagnosed  as  func- 
tional, it  was  given  to  one  of  these 
specially  trained  men  for  mental  treat- 
ment. 

There  may  be  some  who  do  not 
clearly  understand  the  distinction  be- 
tween organic  and  functional  disorders. 
Stating  it  generally,  organic  diseases 
are  those  which  have  their  origin  in  the 
physical  organism ;  functional  disorders 
are  those  whose  cause  is  mental  or 
nervous.  This  distinction  is  constantly 
made  by  the  Emmanuel  Church  workers, 

n 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

and  has  called  out  much  criticism,, 
especially  from  the  Christian  Scientists, 
who  have  said,  "  Why  draw  any  line 
at  all  ?  If  the  sub-conscious  mind,  by 
which  you  claim  to  be  able  to  reach 
these  various  functional  disorders,  is 
in  reality  a  part  of  the  Infinite  Mind, 
why  can  you  not  cure  all  diseases  ? 
Why  have  any  staff  of  physicians  or 
surgeons?  Why  not  do  all  the  work, 
as  we  are  striving  to  do  in  Christian 
Science  ?  '  Nevertheless,  this  distinc- 
tion has  been  made,  and  I  think  very 
wisely,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact,  while 
Christian  Science  claims  to  be  able  to 
cure  all  manner  of  diseases,  organic 
as  well  as  functional,  still  as  we  know, 
it  does  not  always  meet  with  success. 
One  of  the  leading  Christian  Sci- 
ence healers  in  Chicago,  an  admirable 
woman  in  every  way,  and  one  who  has 
done  a  tremendous  amount  of  good  in 
the  world,  and  has  been  unquestionably 

12 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

instrumental  in  effecting  many  cures, 
died  only  a  few  weeks  ago  after  a  linger- 
ing illness  from  cancer.  Another  Chris- 
tian Science  teacher  who  conducted 
many  classes  in  my  old  home  city,  and 
was  thoroughly  beloved  and  respected 
by  all  who  knew  her,  was  suddenly 
stricken  with  blindness  a  few  years 
ago. 

This  is  by  no  means  to  cast  dis- 
paragement upon  any  genuine  cure  ac- 
complished through  Christian  Science. 
Medicine  does  not  always  cure.  I  refer 
to  these  cases  simply  to  show  that  in 
this  field  of  Suggestive  Therapeutics 
there  is  need  for  caution  and  common- 
sense.  We  gain  nothing  by  exaggera- 
tion. We  do  not  need  to  claim  every- 
thing, as  did  an  osteopathic  friend  of 
mine,  who,  when  asked  what  oste- 
opathy could  do,  replied,  "  We  can  cure 
everything  now  but  snake  bite,  and  in 
a  very  little  while  we  expect  to  control 

13 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

even  that."  We  are  still  on  the  thresh- 
old of  the  whole  subject  of  the  sub- 
conscious mind  and  its  power  over  the 
physical  body.  We  are  feeling  our 
way,  by  many  different  paths,  and 
one  day  we  shall  arrive  at  the  whole 
truth.  The  time  may  come  when,  as 
we  become  more  conversant  with  these 
laws  and  their  operation,  we  shall  be 
able  to  control  not  only  functional  dis- 
orders but  organic  as  well;  but  at  the 
present  stage  of  human  development, 
with  our  present  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
conscious mind  and  its  powers,  the 
leaders  in  this  field  are  saying,  Let 
us  confine  for  the  present,  at  least,  our 
application  of  these  principles  to  func- 
tional disorders,  springing  not  from 
broken  down  physical  tissue,  but  rather 
from  the  mind,  or  the  "  nervous  sys- 
tem." There  is  a  tremendous  field  here; 
for,  as  every  doctor  knows,  about  two- 
thirds  or  one-half  of  all  human  mala- 

14 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

dies  are  functional  in  their  character 
rather  than  organic.  It  must  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  the  authori- 
ties in  Suggestive  Therapeutics  frankly 
admit  the  tremendous  influence  of  the 
mind  even  in  organic  diseases. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  Emmanuel 
Movement,  various  branches  have 
sprung  up  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  In  Chicago,  Bishop  Fallows, 
of  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church, 
has  established  a  clinic  in  connection 
with  his  church.  In  New  York  City, 
Dr.  Loring  W.  Batten,  rector  of  St. 
Mark's  Church,  has  recently  instituted 
a  similar  clinic.  Dr.  Birckhead,  suc- 
cessor of  Dr.  Rainsford,  has  said  that 
St.  George's  Church  is  about  to  in- 
stitute some  such  work,  the  exact 
nature  of  which  is  not  yet  announced; 
but  he  feels  that  the  Church  must  in 
some  way  begin  to  show  a  vital  interest 
in  the  work  of  healing  the  sick  and 

15 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

caring  for  the  bodies  of  men.  Dr. 
MacDonald,  of  Washington  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  has  been 
devoting  considerable  attention  to  this 
work.  Dr.  Lyman  Powell,  rector  of 
St.  John's  Church,  in  Northampton, 
Massachusetts,  has  established  a  clinic. 
Besides  these,  there  are  a  large  number 
of  other  churches,  more  or  less  promi- 
nent throughout  the  country,  that  have 
either  already  established  or  are  pre- 
paring to  establish  branches  of  the 
Emmanuel  Movement. 

Men  like  Bishop  Fallows  and  Dr. 
Worcester  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  it  is 
only  a  question  of  a  very  little  time 
before  all  the  churches  will  add  to 
their  many  functions  the  work  of  heal- 
ing the  sick.  This  may  be  an  open 
question  in  the  minds  of  many.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  in  the  case  of  the 
Emmanuel  Church,  Boston,  where  the 
leaders  are  specially  trained  for  such 

16 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

work;  but  we  can  see  how  great  injury 
might  be  done  and  much  harm  arise 
if  all  churches,  regardless  of  whether 
their  pastors  have  any  fitness  or  have 
received  special  training  in  Psychology 
or  the  methods  of  Suggestive  Thera- 
peutics, should  rush  pellmell  into  this 
movement.  In  my  judgment  this  work 
must  be  done,  if  done  rightly  and  effec- 
tively, by  those  who  are  specially  fitted 
and  trained.  It  may  be  that  the  time 
will  come  when  in  our  theological  semi- 
naries students  will  be  required  to  take 
a  course  in  Suggestive  Therapeutics. 
Just  now,  however,  it  would  seem  to 
be  the  part  of  wisdom  for  us  to  respect- 
fully help  in  every  possible  way  these 
churches  that  are  especially  equipped 
for  this  work  and  whose  pastors  are 
trained  for  such  service,  and  meantime, 
to  further  study  and  carefully  ob- 
serve this  movement  before  we  decide 
that   all   churches    ought    to    add   the 

17 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

work  of  healing  to  their  other   activi- 
ties. 

We  sometimes  speak  as  if  the  subject 
of  Mental  Healing  was  purely  modern, 
and  had  only  existed  for  the  last 
generation  or  so;  but  I  would  remind 
you  that  as  far  back  as  history  goes,  we 
find  that  mental  healing  under  various 
names  and  different  forms  has  been 
practised  and  apparently  with  success. 
In  the  oldest  civilization  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  that  of  Egypt,  hun- 
dreds of  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
it  had  a  prominent  place.  The  histo- 
rian Glidden  remarks:  "  Their  priests 
evidently  appear  to  have  perfectly  com- 
prehended the  method  of  exciting  that 
internal  sanative  instinct  in  the  human 
organism,  which  in  general  is  a  pro- 
found mystery,  even  to  the  individual 
who  excites  it ;  and  which  was  naturally 
enough,  in  those  remote  ages,  repre- 
sented  as   the  immediate  gift   of   the 

13 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

gods.  Nowhere  else  was  this  internal 
faculty  so  generally  cultivated  for  the 
cure  of  the  sick."  The  excavations  at 
Cavvadias  furnish  much  interesting 
material,  showing  that  the  miraculous 
cures  of  Epidaurus  were  effected  at 
this  ancient  Greek  shrine,  500  years 
before  our  era,  by  suggestion,  and  pre- 
cisely in  the  same  manner  as  to-day  at 
Lourdes.  Livy  tells  us  that  the  temples 
of  the  gods  of  Rome  were  rich  in  the 
number  of  offerings  which  the  people 
used  to  make  in  return  for  the  cures 
received  from  them;  and  Pliny  tells  of 
Etruscan  spells  used  by  Theophrastus 
for  sciatica,  by  Cato  for  the  cure  of 
dislocated  limbs,  and  by  Varro  for 
gout.  Our  own  Druid  ancestors,  using 
similar  methods,  were  consulted  by  the 
Emperor  Aurelius. 

In  these  early  days  the  power  was 
attributed  directly  to  the  gods.  It  was 
supposed  to  be  an  arbitrary  answer  to 

19 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

prayer,  or  else  a  supernatural  bestowal 
from  Heaven  of  some  divine  gift.  Yet 
psychologists,  because  of  the  various 
forms  of  healing  which  take  place  in 
modern  times  —  whether  at  some  sa- 
cred shrine,  or  by  touching  some  holy 
relic,  through  the  faith  cure  of  Dowieism 
or  the  denial  of  disease  by  Christian 
Science,  —  believe  that  all  are  to  be 
explained,  by  the  power  of  the  mind 
over  the  body  through  the  law  of 
suggestion. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  there  were 
occasional  priests  who  seemed  to  be 
vested  with  a  "  gift  of  healing."  Such 
powers  were  attributed  directly  to  the 
agencies  of  Heaven,  merely  because 
such  marvels  were  not  understood. 
Roman  Catholic  history  as  well  as 
Protestant,  has  a  great  deal  to  say 
about  the  miraculous  healing  power  of 
certain  priests  or  other  saintly  indi- 
viduals.    We  know  how  saintship  was 

20 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

often  won,  among  the  Catholics  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  because  of  the  wonderful 
"miracles"  or,  as  we  understand  to-day, 
the  psychological  cures  accomplished. 

But  coming  down  to  modern  times, 
I  want  to  bring  you  a  few  brief  extracts 
from  leading  physicians  to-day,  who 
stand  in  the  fore-front  of  their  profes- 
sion and  are  recognized  authorities  in 
England  and  America. 

Sir  Andrew  Clark  says:  "  It  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  deal  knowingly  and 
wisely  with  various  disorders  of  the 
body  without  distinctly  recognizing  the 
agency  of  states  and  conditions  of 
mind,  often  in  producing  and  always  in 
modifying  them." 

Dr.  Maudsley  says :  "  Perhaps  we 
do  not  as  physicians  consider  suffi- 
ciently the  influence  of  mental  states  in 
the  production  of  disease,  their  im- 
portance as  symptoms,  or  take  all  the 
advantages  which  we  might  get  from 

21 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

them  in  our  effort  to  cure  disease. 
Quackery  seems  to  have  got  hold  of  a 
truth  which  legitimate  medicine  fails 
to  appreciate." 

Dr.  Robertson  says:  "  While  the 
influence  of  the  mind  over  the  body 
is  universally  recognized,  its  employ- 
ment as  a  therapeutic  agent  is  purposely 
used  by  but  a  few  in  the  regular  ranks 
of  the  profession." 

Sir  S.  Wilks  remarks:  "  The  doctor 
soon  finds  that  in  treating  his  patient 
the  practice  of  medicine  is  not  only  one 
of  physic,  but  of  psychology;  and  that 
the  effect  of  his  drugs  depends  as  much 
upon  the  constitution  of  the  patient's 
mind  as  that  of  his  body." 

Dr.  Shoemaker  of  Philadelphia  says: 
"  Psychotherapism  plays  a  most  im- 
portant part  in  the  ordinary  every-day 
practice  of  medicine.  The  influence  of 
the  mind  upon  the  bodily  functions  is 
so  great  that  every  experienced,  intelli- 

22 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

gent  physician  is  glad  to  enlist  so  potent 
an  auxiliary." 

We  read  in  "The  Lancet:" 
"  Though  the  therapeutic  effect  of 
faith  and  hope  is  not  detailed  in  our 
text-books,  they  are  enough  to  turn  the 
scale  in  favour  of  recovery;  and  yet 
they  are  but  two  of  the  many  mental 
medicines  which  a  judicious  physician 
may  use  in  the  management  of  disease." 

Dr.  Affleck  says:  "  The  power  of 
suggestion  as  a  factor  in  therapeutics 
has  gained  wide  recognition  in  recent 
times." 

"  A  day  will  come,"  saj  s  De  Fleury, 
"  when  there  shall  arise  an  upright 
and  intelligent  physician,  strong  enough 
to  defy  ridicule,  and  authorized  by  a 
noble  life  and  the  merit  of  his  labours 
to  lay  claim  to  the  superior  dignity  of 
a  moralist.  If  he  knows  the  human 
heart  well  he  can  draw  the  sick  of  soul 
to  him." 

23 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

Dr.  A.  Morrison,  President  of  the 
iEsculapian  Society,  says:  "  We  often 
do  less  than  half  of  our  duty  in  not 
exploring  the  mental  life  of  the  patient. 
A  good  deal  has  been  written  on  pro- 
longed vascular  tension  due  to  physical 
causes.  Is  there  no  such  state  as  pro- 
longed mental  tension  due  to  moral 
causes  ?  ...  In  such  cases,  if  the  phy- 
sician is  to  be  of  any  service  to  his 
patient,  it  must  be  by  the  agency  of 
mind  on  mind;  and  this  takes  us  out 
of  the  vestibule  littered  with  micro- 
scopes, crucibles,  and  retorts  into  that 
inner  chaml  er  —  the  holy  of  holies,  in 
the  life  of  a  physician  and  his  patients  — 
where  heart  and  mind  are  laid  bare  to 
the  sympathetic  gaze  of  a  fellow-man, 
whose  discretion  may  be  relied  upon, 
and  who  may,  from  his  training  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  human  soul  as  well 
as  the  human  body,  be  able  to  cure  his 
brother  of  a  disturbing  factor  in  his  life 

24 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

beyond  the  reach  of  the  most  advanced 
therapeutics  of  a  purely  physical  kind." 

One  of  the  last  words  of  Henry 
Gawen  Sutton,  teacher  of  pathology 
at  the  London  Hospital,  was:  "  Don't 
underrate  the  influence  of  your  own 
personality.  Learn  to  give  confidence 
to  your  patients." 

Dr.  A.  T.  Schofield  says:  "  To  con- 
strain a  feeble  mind  to  be  governed  by 
a  good  one  is  not  a  superhuman 
labour  for  one  who  goes  about  it 
adroitly.  The  moment  the  eye  of  the 
patient  meets  the  eye  of  the  physician, 
psychological  action,  influencing  the 
course  of  the  disease,  at  once  takes 
place  through  the  patient's  unconscious 
mind." 

To  these  names  should  be  added  the 
following,  all  of  whom  are  enlisted  in 
the  cause  of  Suggestive  Therapeutics: 
Forel,  Bernheim,  Dubois,  Liebcault, 
Tuckey   and  Vogt   of  Europe;    Prof. 

25 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

Jastrow  of  Wisconsin  University,  Jack- 
son, Royce,  and  Southard  of  Harvard, 
Woodworth  and  Peterson  of  Columbia, 
Coriat  of  Boston  City  Hospital;  and  of 
American  physicians,  Morton  Prince, 
Boris  Sidis,  Jas.  J.  Putnam,  Richard 
C.  Cabot,  Lewelys  F.  Barker  and  many 
others. 

I  make  these  quotations  for  the  sake 
of  proving  that  the  whole  method  of  the 
modern  physician  is  changed,  whether 
he  has  admitted  it  publicly  or  not.  I 
imagine  there  is  no  intelligent  physician 
in  active  practice  to-day,  who  is  not 
using  psychotherapy  every  day  of  his 
life.  It  may  be  through  the  conscious 
power  of  his  own  personality,  it  may  be 
by  a  clear  understanding  of  the  law  of 
Suggestion,  it  may  be  by  recourse  to 
some  harmless  deception,  such  as  the 
bread  pill  —  but  every  intelligent  doc- 
tor is  recognizing  the  truth  of  what 
these  men  of  prominence  here  express; 

26 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

and  while  many  of  them  are  not  saying 
anything  about  it  to  their  patients  or 
the  world  outside,  they  are  coming 
more  and  more  to  realize  the  large  part 
which  mind  plays  in  disease. 

A  few  months  ago  I  met  at  the 
steamer  a  physician  and  surgeon  who 
stands  in  the  front  rank  of  his  profes- 
sion in  the  Middle  West ;  a  man  whose 
ear  is  always  close  to  the  ground,  and 
who  is  unusually  alert  and  eager  to  obtain 
the  very  latest  discoveries  in  his  pro- 
fession. He  was  just  returning  from  a 
year's  trip  around  the  world.  He  had 
spent  much  time  in  the  hospitals  of 
Japan,  China,  India,  also  at  Vienna, 
Berlin  and  London.  I  asked  him  what 
he  had  brought  back  to  enrich  his 
professional  life.  His  reply  was  very 
significant:  "  There  is  a  world-wide 
movement  on  in  the  medical  profession, 
tending  more  and  more  toward  the 
prevention  of  disease . ' '    Then  he  added : 

27 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

"  In  your  lifetime,  and  perhaps  in  mine, 
we  will  see  the  use  of  drugs  reduced  to 
the  minimum."  Another  physician 
said  to  me  recently:  "  The  chief 
trouble  is  that  the  whole  business  of 
drugs  has  been  so  tremendously  com- 
mercialized. The  great  drug  manu- 
facturing companies  are  continually 
bringing  out  some  new  combination  of 
drugs  and  forcing  them  on  the  physician 
and  the  helpless  public,  until  we  are 
simply  swamped  with  innumerable 
'  remedies.'  There  are  a  hundred 
different  remedies  for  every  known 
disease,  each  one,  naturally,  claiming  to 
be  the  best.  Dr.  Osier,  formerly  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  wrote  back 
to  this  country  from  Europe,  that 
"  within  a  few  years  we  shall  see  nine- 
tenths  of  all  the  drugs  with  which  the 
American  people  now  dope  themselves 
dumped  into  the  bottom  of  the  sea." 
One  of  the  greatest  crimes,  committed 

28 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

by  the  people  against  themselves,  is  their 
startling  use  of  patent  medicines.  If 
the  advertiser  is  only  an  artist  in  his 
line,  most  of  us  are  susceptible  enough 
to  his  Suggestion.  But  as  every  doctor 
knows,  the  patent  medicines  which  are 
annually  sold  in  this  country,  literally 
by  the  hundreds  of  carloads,  have  done 
and  are  doing  an  inestimable  amount  of 
harm  to  the  physical  life  of  the  people. 
And  the  reaction  against  their  use  has 
already  begun. 

Let  me  say  a  word  about  the  physi- 
cian in  his  relation  to  this  movement  of 
mental  healing.  From  my  own  experi- 
ence I  believe  there  is  no  nobler  class 
of  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth  than 
physicians  and  surgeons.  They  are  for 
the  most  part  heroic,  self-sacrificing, 
untiring  men,  whose  services  to  suffer- 
ing humanity  have  never  yet  been 
worthily  appreciated.  I  have  no  sym- 
pathy whatever  with  the  general  tirade 

29 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

which  is  heard  in  certain  quarters 
against  the  medical  profession.  I  want 
to  remind  you  of  one  or  two  things 
which  we  should  always  remember, 
before  we  criticize  the  doctors  unduly. 
Take  one  single  illustration.  Have  you 
stopped  to  realize  what  the  discovery  of 
chloroform  has  meant  to  the  world  ? 
Can  any  one  estimate  the  amount  of 
human  suffering  and  pain  that  has  been 
relieved,  and  from  which  poor  humanity 
has  been  saved,  simply  because  of  the 
discovery  of  chloroform  ? 

Do  you  realize  what  preventative 
measures  have  been  brought  about  by 
the  doctor  ?  There  was  a  time  a  few 
years  ago  when  the  Panama  Canal 
region  was  known  as  the  Death  Zone, 
but  to-day  the  death  rate  is  lower  there 
than  in  the  City  of  New  York.  Who 
changed  the  conditions  ?  The  doctor, 
the  trained  scientific  man  who  went 
down  there  and  instituted  sanitary  laws 

30 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

and  regulations.  Many  will  remember 
when  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing 
for  cholera  or  smallpox  to  sweep  over 
certain  portions  of  our  large  cities,  and 
we  are  all  familiar  with  the  frightful 
ravages  wrought  by  the  yellow  fever  in 
our  Southern  cities.  Why  do  we  no 
longer  fear  these  plagues  ?  It  is  due 
to  the  scientific  and  self-sacrificing  work 
of  the  doctor.  Why  is  the  death  rate 
to-day  so  extremely  low  in  New  York 
City,  even  with  its  slum  quarters  —  only 
seventeen  or  eighteen,  and  even  drop- 
ping one  month  this  last  summer  to  as 
low  as  thirteen  per  thousand  ?  It  is 
chiefly  due  to  the  doctor,  the  trained 
scientific  man,  working  with  the  Board 
of  Health.  It  is  these  heroic  and 
courageous  men  who  are  locating  the 
dark  rooms,  and  condemning  the  tene- 
ment houses  where  conditions  are  such 
as  to  foster  disease  in  all  its  various 
forms,  who  are  insisting  that  the  streets 

31 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

be  kept  clean  and  who  are  placing  all 
possible  restrictions  about  contagious 
diseases.  We  have  by  no  means  done 
all  we  might  in  this  regard,  but  we  must 
never  forget  that  whatever  has  been 
accomplished  in  the  direction  of  a 
more  healthful  city  has  been  due 
chiefly  to  the  physician.  We  need  to 
remember  when  we  are  tempted  to 
criticize  the  doctor,  that  the  greatest 
part  of  his  work  is  not  in  curing 
disease,  but  in  preventing  it,  and  thus 
making  impossible  these  awful  scourges 
which  have  ravaged  nations  or  cities 
from  the  beginning  of  time. 

Think  of  the  accomplishments  in 
the  field  of  surgery.  Even  Mrs.  Eddy 
admits  that  in  the  case  of  a  fractured 
bone  or  a  dislocated  limb  the  surgeon 
must  be  called  in.  I  think  nobody 
would  be  foolish  enough  to  claim  that 
when  a  man  breaks  his  leg  he  can  sit 
down  and  by  concentrating  his  thoughts 

32 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

upon  it,  mend  the  fracture.  Surgery 
is  an  exact  science,  as  medicine  is  not 
and  perhaps  never  can  be.  Who  can 
estimate  the  amount  of  good  accom- 
plished by  modern  surgery,  the  suffer- 
ing that  has  been  relieved,  the  indi- 
viduals who  have  been  saved  to  their 
homes  and  families  and  to  society  ? 
We  should  bow  our  heads  in  reverence 
in  the  presence  of  the  skilled  and  con- 
scientious physician  or  surgeon.  But 
what  is  extremely  significant  is  this, 
that  the  intelligent  physician  to-day 
everywhere,  is  changing  his  method, 
is  depending  less  on  drugs  and  more  on 
the  remedial  powers  of  the  mind.  Ian 
MacClaren,  in  his  story  "  A  Doctor  of 
the  Old  School,"  tells  of  Dr.  MacClure, 
who  had  been  called  to  a  farm,  where 
a  boy  had  been  badly  crushed  in  a 
machine.  A  neighbour  in  telling  the 
experience  afterwards  says:  "  It  was 
michty   tae    see   him   come    intae    the 

33 


MIND  AND  MEDICINE 

yaird  that  day;  the  verra  look  o'  him 
wes  victory."  And  our  modern  doctor 
is  learning  how  to  carry  victory  in  his 
face,  in  the  tone  of  his  voice,  in  his 
every  action,  as  he  goes  into  the  sick 
room.  He  has  become  more  and  more 
skillful  in  the  art  of  Suggestion.  As  I 
have  stood  by  his  side  many  a  time,  I 
have  marveled  at  the  skill,  with  which 
he  used  all  the  knowledge  of  modern 
psychology,  in  seeking  to  effect  the  cure. 
The  greatest  present  need  is  that  the 
true  mental  healer  should  always  have 
the  profoundest  respect  for  the  true 
and  conscientious  physician;  and  also, 
that  the  true  physician  should  have  a 
genuine  respect  for  the  trained,  con- 
scientious and  honest  mental  healer. 

If  this  present  movement  continues 
to  grow  in  extent  and  power,  it  must 
mean  that  the  Church,  Medicine  and 
Psychology  will  come  into  even  closer 
fellowship  and  work  together  in  a  more 

34 


MIND  AND   MEDICINE 

vital  sympathy.  Does  not  such  a 
vision  presage  a  great  and  glorious 
future?  We  have  come  to  see  in  all 
these  wonderful  movements  of  thought, 
that  man  is  not  a  being  to  be  separated 
into  different  compartments,  so  that  we 
can  turn  his  body  over  to  some  doctor, 
his  soul  over  to  some  minister,  and  his 
mind  over  to  some  educator.  Man  is  a 
unit,  —  body,  soul  and  mind,  —  and  if 
we  are  going  to  train  men,  who  shall  be 
in  every  sense  symmetrical  characters, 
our  educators  and  our  ministers  and 
our  doctors  must  work  in  harmony, 
with  man  and  for  man.  This  is  the  goal 
to  which  all  our  thought  to-day  is 
tending.  When  that  day  dawns  we 
shall  at  last  attain  to  a  truly  scientific 
religion,  and  a  truly  sacred  science. 


35 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

MONG  all  peoples  and  in 
every  age,  nothing  has  been 
so  persistently  sought  as  bodily 
health.  The  Elixir  of  Life 
has  been  the  dream  not  only  of  the  early 
alchemists  but  even  of  some  modern 
chemists  and  yet  we  seem  to  be  no 
nearer  the  consummation  of  that  age- 
old  desire  than  were  the  Ancients.  On 
the  contrary,  we  find  that  physical 
disorders  are  steadily  growing  more 
subtile  and  complex.  Physicians  are 
increasing  in  number  in  a  much  larger 
proportion  than  the  population,  while 
diseases  and  remedies  of  every  kind 
multiply  constantly.     Insanity,  insom- 

39 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

nia  and  all  forms  of  nervous  disorders 
are  increasingly  prevalent. 

Professor  Paul  DuBoise,  of  Berne 
University,  has  recently  written  a  book 
on  "  The  Psychic  Treatment  of  Nerv- 
ous Disorders,"  consisting  of  thirty- 
five  chapters  devoted  to  more  than  that 
number  of  different  manifestations  of 
nervous  disease.  Specialists  grow  more 
numerous,  and  each  finds  what  he  is 
looking  for.  Some  years  ago  a  friend 
of  mine  was  taken  sick,  and  after  seek- 
ing in  vain  for  relief  through  his  family 
physician,  consulted  one  of  the  leading 
specialists  in  the  city  where  he  lived. 
He  told  him  the  trouble  was  with  his 
heart;  that  was  his  specialty.  A  little 
later  he  consulted  another  specialist. 
This  man  told  him  he  had  diabetes; 
that  was  his  specialty.  Another  diag- 
nosed his  case  as  due  to  uric  acid  in  the 
blood;  that  was  his  specialty.  Still 
another  told  him  that  the  cause  of  his 

40 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

difficulty  lay  in  his  digestive  organs; 
that  was  his  specialty.  Finally  the  man 
died  of  a  malady  which  none  of  these 
specialists  had  discovered. 

We  need  not  question  the  honesty  or 
intelligence  of  any  of  these  men.  It 
only  shows  the  natural  tendency,  unless 
the  case  is  very  clear  and  simple  as  few 
cases  are,  for  each  specialist  to  discover 
symptoms  of  his  own  special  disease, 
and  treat  the  case  accordingly.  Yet  in 
spite  of  these  discouraging  facts,  the 
time  is  fast  approaching  when  it  will  be 
much  easier  for  people  to  possess  health 
and  strength  than  to  be  without 
them,  for  both  these  blessings  come 
through  conformity  to  Law  both  outer 
and  inner.  For  centuries  men  have 
sought  health  in  the  outer  realm  of 
sanitation,  hygiene  and  drugs.  "  These 
ought  ye  to  have  done  "  —  with  the 
exception  of  a  greatly  superfluous 
amount  of  drugs  —  "  but  not  to  have 

41 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

left  the  others  undone."  It  is  no 
disparagement  of  sanitary  or  hygienic 
laws  when  I  affirm  that  at  last  man  is 
beginning  to  realize  that  the  laws  which 
pertain  to  the  inner  life  are  far  more 
important  even  than  these  external  laws. 
In  a  previous  essay  I  sought  to  de- 
scribe the  background  of  the  Movement 
for  Health  which  is  just  now  attracting 
so  much  interest,  and  pointed  out  the 
distinguished  men  who  have  already 
given  it  their  support,  thus  showing 
that  it  is  not  a  Movement  to  be  treated 
with  anything  less  than  respect.  The 
average  man  certainly  has  a  right  to 
know  the  facts;  our  only  desire  is  for 
the  truth.  Even  if  there  is  but  a 
modicum  of  virtue  in  mental  thera- 
peutics making  for  the  alleviation  of 
human  suffering,  surely  the  world  needs 
sadly  its  reinforcement;  and  if  it  con- 
tains no  truth,  if  it  proceeds  from  a 
baseless  idealism,  then  by  all  means  let 

42 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

us  admit  frankly  the  hollo wness  of  its 
claims. 

Have  we  to-day  in  mental  thera- 
peutics a  great  principle,  capable  of 
wide  application,  that  lies  so  near 
every  one  of  us  that  we  have  hitherto 
looked  through  it  or  beyond  it  ?  Are 
there  certain  orderly  forces  in  the  mind, 
far  more  potent  for  good  in  the  life 
of  humanity  than  are  these  great 
forces  recently  harnessed  in  the  realm 
of  electricity  ?  These  are  some  of  the 
questions  that  naturally  arise  in  the 
mind  of  every  earnest  seeker  after  truth. 

At  the  beginning  of  our  discussion 
it  is  necessary  that  we  should  do  some 
accurate  defining.  Mental  therapeu- 
tics is  not  to  be  confused  with  Christian 
Science,  or  Faith  Cure,  nor  is  it  to  be 
regarded  simply  as  a  new  competitor 
of  the  other  healing  agencies  already 
in  the  field.  Although  we  often  use 
the  words  3fi  Christian  Science  '    in  a 

43 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

rather  loose  and  general  sense,  neverthe- 
less, in  the  strict  sense,  Christian  Sci- 
ence should  be  identified  with  a  dis- 
tinct school  which  takes  for  its  exclusive 
text-book  a  work  entitled  "  Science  and 
Health,"  by  Mrs.  Mary  B.  G.  Eddy, 
and  the  Bible  as  interpreted  through  it. 
This  is  said  in  an  impartial  spirit,  as 
a  matter  of  definition  and  simple  justice 
to  all  concerned. 

The  process  of  Mrs.  Eddy  begins 
with  the  denial  of  everything  evil.  It 
depends  for  its  basis  upon  the  assump- 
tion of  the  unreality  of  the  body  and  of 
so-called  material  things.  Matter  is 
unreal;  pain  is  a  fiction;  disease  is 
imaginary.  For  myself  I  do  not  believe 
we  gain  anything  by  denying  facts  which 
are  clearly  patent  to  all.  It  is  true  we 
are  souls,  but  souls  living  on  the  physi- 
cal plane,  and  the  body  is  a  reality  on 
its  own  plane  and  in  the  degree  in  which 
the    real    unity    of    life    is    expressed 

44 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

through  it.  Hence,  to  deny  the  reality 
of  the  physical  body,  of  pain  and 
disease,  is  only  a  juggling  with  words. 
If  we  say,  in  good  faith,  there  is  no  sin, 
sickness  or  disease,  we  have  simply 
succeeded  in  hypnotizing  ourselves  into 
a  belief  that  is  an  error.  All  these  con- 
ditions do  exist.  They  are  not  "  real ' 
in  the  sense  of  being  permanent;  they 
are  but  transitory  conditions  through 
which  the  soul  passes,  but  they  cannot 
be  overcome  through  mere  denial.  The 
system  of  denial,  which  really  lies  at 
the  basis  of  Christian  Science,  results, 
in  fact,  in  emphasizing  the  reality  of 
the  very  conditions  from  which  we 
seek  deliverance.  The  way  to  escape 
from  darkness  is  not  to  deny  that  dark- 
ness exists.  The  only  way  to  dispel 
darkness  is  to  let  in  the  light.  Error 
of  any  kind  is  to  be  overcome  not  by 
the  denial  that  error  exists,  but  by 
affirming  the  existence  and  pownr  of  the 

45 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

truth.  There  is  another  form  of  denial 
which  is  both  true  and  rational.  This 
is  the  affirmation  of  the  superiority  of 
the  mind  over  the  body,  involving  the 
denial  that  body  can,  of  and  for  itself, 
do  anything  or  feel  anything.  This  is 
no  mere  denial  or  negation;  it  rather 
arises  from  the  positive  assertion  of 
the  higher  law.  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  an  imaginary  disease 
and  a  disease  of  the  imagination.  The 
tendency  in  the  past  has  been  to  regard 
many  mental  and  nervous  disorders 
as  purely  imaginary,  and  so  unworthy 
of  serious  attention.  Suggestive  Thera- 
peutics recognizes  that  such  so-called 
"  imaginary  disorders  '  are  really  dis- 
eases of  the  mind,  causing  the  individ- 
ual oftentimes  more  pain  and  suffering 
by  far,  than  would  be  produced  by 
organic  diseases. 

Faith    Cure,    in    the    proper    sense, 
presumes    upon    special    divine    inter- 

46 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

position  in  answer  to  prayer.  It  im- 
plies a  suspension  and  violation  of  the 
orderly  laws  of  the  universe.  Owing 
to  the  working  of  mental  forces,  many 
remarkable  cures  do  take  place  under 
the  administration  of  both  Christian 
Science  and  Faith  Cure,  only  the 
modus  operandi  is  misunderstood. 

Nor  are  we  to  think  of  Mental 
Healing  as  merely  another  competitor 
in  the  field  of  the  "  pathies,"  seeking 
to  relieve  human  suffering.  This 
broader  science  of  Mental  Healing 
recognizes  no  external  authority  as 
located  in  a  single  person  or  text-book. 
"  It  is  a  development  from  within, 
rather  than  a  system  from  without.  It 
is  a  life  rather  than  a  doctrine.  It  is  a 
new  consciousness,  rather  than  a  new 
philosophy.  It  is  a  spiritual  optimism, 
rather  than  a  material  or  pessimistic 
realism.  Its  business  is  to  bring  inner 
ideals  into  outward  actualized  expres- 

47 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

sion.  It  has  to  do  with  the  intuition 
as  well  as  with  the  intellect.  It  recog- 
nizes that  the  inner  and  real  nature  of 
man  is  in  most  intimate  relation  with 
the  Universal  Mind  of  God." 

Its  underlying  principle  consists  in 
a  recognition  of  mental  causation  for 
all  outward  phenomena.  But  the  idea 
of  mental  causation  for  physical  con- 
ditions is  in  substantial  harmony  with 
the  highest  and  best  thought  of  the  seers 
and  philosophers,  from  Plato  down  to 
the  present  time.  "  If  primary  causes 
for  physical  ills  are  resident  in  the 
clay  of  the  body,  there  is  no  warrant 
whatever  for  healing  through  mind.  If, 
however,  causative  forces  are  located 
in  the  mental  realm,  there  is  no  logical 
basis,  per  se,  for  anything  else." 

We  are  all  in  bondage  to  the  seen,  and 
constantly  speak  of  mere  occasions  as 
causes.  In  popular  language,  we  say 
that  the  draught  caused  the  cold,  the 

48 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

contagion  caused  the  fever,  or  the 
unfriendly  microbe  the  disease.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  these  are  occasions 
but  not  causes.  The  cause  in  every 
case,  is  in  the  subjective  conditions 
which  we  usually  call  the  susceptibility 
of  the  individual.  Occasions  are  always 
without;  causes  within.  Ten  people 
sit  in  the  same  draught,  are  exposed  to 
the  same  contagion,  or  swallow  the 
same  microbes.  Some  will  suffer,  and 
perhaps  die,  while  the  others  go  scot 
free.  The  doctor  and  nurse  can  breathe 
the  atmosphere  of  contagious  disease 
continually,  but  they  rarely  succumb 
themselves. 

The  people  during  an  epidemic  who 
are  most  fearful,  are  usually,  on  the 
testimony  of  physicians,  the  first  ones 
to  succumb  to  the  disease.  All  this 
shows  that  occasions  are  only  oppor- 
tunities. Owing  to  general  low  develop- 
ment,  such    opportunities   must   often 

49 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

be  avoided,  but  even  then  they  never 
become  causes.  The  true  method  is 
to  so  fortify  our  inner  mental  and  phys- 
ical life  that  we  shall  no  longer  be  sus- 
ceptible to  external  influences,  so  that 
the  contagion  we  all  breathe  and  the 
microbes  we  all  swallow  shall  have  no 
power  over  us.  The  time  may  come  — 
it  has  not  arrived  yet  —  when  the 
scientist  will  be  able  to  locate  the  mental 
cause  for  every  known  disease;  will 
be  able  to  state  just  why  at  such  a  time 
a  particular  person  took  cold  or  came 
down  with  fever.  Remember,  we  are 
but  standing  on  the  threshold  of  the 
great  realm  of  mental  dynamics;  but 
dimly  conscious  as  yet  that  mental 
and  moral  conditions  are  the  most 
potent  forces  that  make  for  health  and 
happiness. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  connection 
to  discuss  the  different  diseases  which 
experience  has  demonstrated    can    be 

50 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

successfully  treated  by  the  mind.  My 
i  purpose  is  to  present  as  clearly  as 
possible  the  general  principles  which, 
if  followed  out  systematically  and  per- 
sistently, must  result  in  physical  health, 
strength  and  happiness. 

If  we  are  to  understand  and  effect- 
ively apply  in  our  lives  the  laws  of 
mental  healing,  we  must  realize  at  the 
outset  the  unity  of  our  life.  We  speak 
of  the  individual  as  consisting  of  soul, 
mind  and  body.  We  know  that  mind 
and  body  are  not  two  separate  entities. 
Mind  expresses  itself  through  the  body 
and  directly  influences  the  body,  and 
in  turn,  the  body  influences  the  mind. 
Mind  and  body  are  constantly  acting 
and  reacting  on  one  another.  Then 
we  speak  of  the  soul  as  if  that  were 
another  distinct  entity,  something  sepa- 
rate from  mind  and  body.  But  what 
we  mean  by  soul  or  spirit  is  simply 
the  spiritual  ego,  the  individual  who 

51 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

stands  back  of  mind  and  body,  and  uses 
both  as  instruments  of  expression.  Soul, 
the  term  used  to  describe  the  highest 
expression  of  individual  entity,  is  not 
different  from  or  independent  of  the 
Universal  Soul  of  all  things.  Soul, 
mind  and  body  are,  then,  bound  to- 
gether in  the  closest  kind  of  unity. 
These  thoughts  once  fairly  grasped,  it 
becomes  comparatively  easy  to  under- 
stand the  absolute  oneness  of  Life, 
and  yet,  the  One  Life  manifesting 
itself  in  many  ways  and  through  many 
degrees.  We  must  not  pick  these 
different  expressions  of  life  apart  and 
think  of  them  as  though  they  were 
entirely  distinct.  We  must  realize  that 
they  are,  in  the  last  analysis,  all  one, 
that  the  life  which  flows  through  this 
grand  Universe  is  all  one  —  One  Life, 
One  Intelligence.  Still  further,  man 
must  recognize  his  oneness  with  all 
humanity;   that  the  life  which  flows  in 

52 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

his  veins  is  the  same  life  that  flows  in 
the  veins  of  every  human  being.  He 
must  be  lifted  out  of  his  sense  of  little- 
ness, his  sense  of  isolation,  his  sense  of 
being  merely  a  personal  entity,  into  the 
sense  of  his  oneness  with  the  Whole, 
of  his  life  as  part  and  parcel  of  all  life, 
inextricably  bound  up  with  the  life  of 
humanity.  This  consciousness  of  life's 
unity  does  not  come  to  one  suddenly. 
It  is  developed  as  one  dwells  upon  the 
thought  of  life,  as  one  seeks  to  realize 
the  deeper  meaning  of  life,  as  one 
endeavours  to  get  back  to  causes  and 
tries  to  interpret  relationships.  In 
other  words,  it  is  as  a  man  thinks.  The 
trouble  with  most  of  us  is  that  we  spend 
very  little  time  in  actual  thinking;  but 
when  one  begins  to  seriously  think 
upon  such  subjects,  he  finds,  in  com- 
pany with  the  great  philosophers  of 
all  times,  that  there  is  no  other  way  to 
interpret  human  life  except  in  terms  of 

53 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

its  oneness  with  the  Infinite  Life  of  the 
Universe. 

The  next  essential  is  to  cultivate 
within  our  mental  life  the  elements  of 
faith,  hope  and  love.  Faith  is  the 
opposite  of  distrust  or  suspicion.  Hope 
is  the  opposite  of  discouragement  and 
melancholy.  Love  is  the  opposite  of 
selfishness.  There  is  a  profound  phil- 
osophy underlying  the  statement  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  "  Now  abide th  these 
three,  faith,  hope  and  love."  To 
cultivate  faith  and  hope  and  love  means 
to  foster  harmonious  thinking,  for  the 
opposite  of  these  things  constitutes  the 
very  essence  of  discordant  thought. 
But  faith  in  what  ?  Faith  in  your  own 
power  to  live  the  life  of  freedom  and 
self-control,  the  life  full  of  composure 
and  cheerfulness,  the  life  that  is  de- 
livered from  all  fear  of  sickness  and 
disease.  Is  the  phrase  your  own  power 
a   correct  one?     That   depends   upon 

54 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

how  it  is  understood.  The  power  acts 
through  you.  In  that  sense,  it  is  your 
own,  because  it  is  expressed  through 
you.  In  the  narrower  sense,  it  is  not 
your  own.  "  Of  myself  I  can  do  noth- 
ing," said  the  Master.  "The  Father 
working  in  me,  He  doeth  the  works." 
What  we  call  faith  in  our  own  powers  is 
really  just  the  recognition  of  the  power 
that  God  has  given  us  to  use.  Faith, 
as  the  New  Testament  uses  the  Word, 
is  not  to  be  confused  with  belief  in 
certain  dogmas  of  religion;  it  is  a 
dynamic  faith  in  one's  own  power  to 
realize  health,  happiness  and  peace 
within. 

The  element  of  Hope  is  the  only  true 
solvent  of  despair,  discouragement, 
melancholy,  fear  and  dread.  Every 
doctor  knows  that  these  mental 
moods  constitute  the  deadliest  foes  to 
physical  health  and  strength.  Hope 
means     confidence,    cheerfulness     and 

55 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

brightness.  To  cultivate  Hope  means 
to  look  on  the  bright  side,  not  only  of 
things  but  of  people,  and  to  believe  in 
the  bright  side  of  things  and  of  people. 
It  is  an  easy  thing  to  unconsciously 
form  the  habit  of  always  seeing  the 
darker  side,  of  always  anticipating  what 
may  happen  in  the  future  to  cloud  the 
sky.  If  we  are  going  to  live  in  the 
atmosphere  of  Hope,  —  one  of  the 
strongest  allies  of  strength  and  health, 
—  we  must  cultivate  the  opposite  of 
all  these  tendencies  of  our  nature.  If 
we  desire,  we  can  make  brightness, 
cheerfulness,  composure,  hope  for  the 
future,  faith  in  ourselves  and  con- 
fidence in  our  fellows,  the  great  domi- 
nant forces  of  our  daily  lives. 

Then  cultivate  most  earnestly  the 
spirit  of  Love.  The  root  of  all  discord 
in  thinking,  that  plays  such  havoc  with 
our  bodies  as  well  as  our  souls,  is  selfish- 
ness,  in   the  form    of   greed,   avarice, 

56 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

pride,  jealousy,  envy,  or  any  other  of 
these  malign  influences.  Foster  within 
yourself  the  opposite  of  selfishness. 
When  Paul  concludes  with  the  words, 
"  The  greatest  of  these  is  Love,"  and 
when  Jesus  sums  up  all  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets  in  the  one  great  com- 
mandment —  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man  —  they  understood  how  the  life 
lived  in  the  atmosphere  of  love,  the  life 
whose  attitude  was  habitually  one  of 
loving  thoughts  and  loving  desires, 
must  inevitably  be  the  life  possessed  of 
fulness  of  strength  and  health,  both 
of  body  and  soul.  We  all  believe  in 
love,  we  all  approve  the  sermon  that 
treats  of  love,  and  we  are  all  quick  to 
say  that  what  we  need  in  our  lives  is 
more  of  the  spirit  of  love.  But,  ask 
yourself  the  question,  "  How  earnestly, 
how  persistently,  how  systematically  in 
my  every-day  life,  am  I  seeking  to  hold 
and  cultivate  in  my  mind  only  loving 

57 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

thoughts  ?  '  How  often  do  you  take 
mental  inventory  and  say,  "  This  is  an 
envious  thought,  and  that  is  a  jealous 
thought,  and  that  is  a  melancholy 
thought;  and  I  am  allowing  such 
thoughts  to  lodge  in  my  mind,  and  so 
control  my  life  ?  "  Read  the  wonderful 
thirteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians, 
and  then  compare  the  ideal  it  presents 
with  your  daily  life.  "  Love  suffereth 
long  and  is  kind;  love  envieth  not; 
love  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed 
up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly, 
seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily 
provoked,  thinketh  no  evil;  rejoiceth 
not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth;  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all 
things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things.  Love  never  faileth."  If  we 
should  determine  to  live  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  that  single  chapter  of 
the  Bible  for  six  months,  we  should 
marvel   at    the  transformation  in  our- 

53 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

selves  and  in  those  about  us.  Culti- 
vate the  spirit  of  faith  and  hope 
and  love  in  this  systematic  way,  just 
as  earnestly  as  you  would  cultivate 
your  muscles  by  exercise,  or  the  powers 
of  your  mind  by  study  —  and  see  the 
result. 

Another  fundamental  need  is  to 
change  our  negative  thoughts  to  positive. 
I  wonder  if  any  one  realizes  how  much 
of  his  thinking  is  on  the  plane  of  the 
negative.  An  old  proverb  says  that  a 
man  is  either  his  own  physician  at 
forty  or  else  he  is  a  fool.  But  however 
much  we  know  at  forty,  we  are  all  of  us 
fools,  in  this  respect  at  least,  that  in  our 
conversation  we  pay  altogether  too  much 
attention  to  sickness  and  physical  condi- 
tions. Dr.  Heber  Newton  tells  of  once 
spending  a  month  in  a  sanitarium.  The 
sanitary  regulations  and  the  hygiene 
were  correct;  but  he  says  the  mental 
atmosphere  was  harmful  in  the  extreme. 

59 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

Attending  a  concert  given  one  evening 
for  the  patients,  there  came  a  sudden 
lull  in  the  music,  and  in  the  comparative 
silence  the  only  words  that  fell  upon  his 
ears  were  these,  "  Rheumatism,  in- 
fluenza, pneumonia,  nervous  prostra- 
tion, etc."  What  kind  of  a  place  was 
that  in  which  to  find  health?  The 
whole  atmosphere  was  surcharged  with 
the  thoughts  of  people  who  dwelt  con- 
stantly on  their  physical  disorders  and 
sufferings.  When  we  come  together 
how  much  of  the  time  is  spent  in  con- 
versing about  our  own  physical  con- 
ditions or  else  those  of  our  friends. 
Our  talking  is  by  no  means  an  idle  or 
meaningless  thing.  Every  time  we 
dwell  upon  such  things  in  conversation 
we  are  giving  potent  suggestions  of  ill- 
health  to  ourselves  and  others.  What 
we  talk  about  habitually,  is  simply  an 
indication  of  what  we  think  habitually, 
and  what  we  think  habitually  is  what 

60 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

we,  sooner  or  later,  become  in  our- 
selves. Cease  thinking  thoughts  of 
sickness,  and  you  will  soon  stop  talking 
along  lines  which  only  create  the 
atmosphere  that  makes  for  ill-health 
and  disease.  Did  you  ever  wonder  why 
the  children  of  the  rich,  petted  and 
coddled  from  the  cradle,  with  a  nurse 
to  dog  their  every  footstep,  who  are 
bundled  up  with  the  greatest  care  every 
time  they  step  outside  the  door,  and 
are  constantly  warned  against  eating 
this  or  drinking  that  —  why  such  chil- 
dren, protected  and  safeguarded  by 
all  these  influences,  turn  out  so  often 
weak,  puny  and  sickly?  The  children 
of  the  street,  on  the  other  hand,  about 
whom  nobody  seems  to  care,  who  have 
never  had  the  guardianship  of  a  nurse, 
whose  parents  know  nothing  and  care 
less  about  the  laws  of  diet,  often  grow 
up  to  be  strong,  robust  and  hearty. 
One  of  the  causes  unquestionably  lies  in 

61 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

the  fact  that  in  the  homes  of  the  rich, 
an  atmosphere  is  created  by  the  over- 
fond  parent  or  the  too-careful  nurse, 
in  which  the  child  is  made  to  fear 
and  dread  countless  ills,  of  which  the 
street  gamin  never  dreams ;  and  what  is 
feared  is  invited.  I  have  a  friend  who 
believes  so  strongly  in  the  power  of 
words,  even  casually  spoken,  that  when 
she  meets  a  friend  she  never  says,  "  I 
hope  you  are  well  to-day."  She  has 
changed  her  greeting,  and  always  says, 
"  I  hope  you  are  good  to-day; "  and  if 
we  are  good  in  the  broad  sense  of 'the 
word,  we  will  be  well.  What  we  need  in 
all  the  range  of  our  conversation  at  home 
and  elsewhere,  is  to  transfer  our  think- 
ing from  the  negative  to  the  positive 
plane.  Think  only  healthful  thoughts 
and  speak  only  healthful  words. 
Let  the  thoughts  that  are  uppermost  in 
your  mind,  whether  you  are  alone  or 
with  others,  be  always  those  thoughts 

m 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

that  make  for  health  and  strength  and 
power.  If  we  could  cultivate  the  habit 
of  living  our  lives  on  the  plane  of  the 
positive,  not  in  the  realm  of  what  we 
fear  or  dread,  or  doubt,  or  distrust, 
our  "  susceptibility  "  to  sickness  of  all 
kinds  would  largely  disappear. 

Once  again,  we  need  to  cultivate 
the  imaging  faculty.  We  must  take 
pains  to  outline  in  our  minds  definitely, 
clearly  and  intensely  what  we  mean  by 
Health.  Picture  in  your  mind  the 
perfect  man  —  image  and  likeness  of  his 
Creator,  without  spot  or  blemish.  It 
is  not  enough  to  repeat  formulas,  par- 
rot fashion.  If  you  discover  the  root 
trouble  to  be  hatred,  anger  or  jealousy, 
then  picture  to  yourself  the  idea  of 
love  as  the  great  reality;  if  selfishness 
is  the  cause,  replace  it  by  the  thought 
that  we  are  all  members  of  one  body, 
etc.  In  this  connection,  there  is  tre- 
mendous need  of  the  power  of  Concen- 

63 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

tration.  The  great  weakness  in  most 
of  our  lives  is  traceable  to  the  fact  that 
we  have  so  little  command  over  our 
mental  forces;  our  minds  fly  from  one 
thing  to  another.  We  no  sooner  begin 
to  think  about  one  subject  than  im- 
mediately our  attention  is  diverted, 
and  we  find  ourselves  thinking  about 
something  else.  What  makes  the  suc- 
cessful scientist?  His  power  of  con- 
centration in  one  field  of  investigation. 
What  makes  the  great  inventor  like 
Edison?  His  power  to  concentrate  all 
his  energies  in  one  direction.  What 
constitutes  the  true  student?  His 
ability  to  take  his  book  in  hand  and  sit 
down  for  hours  together  and  concen- 
trate his  attention  on  the  problems  in 
which  he  is  interested.  Here  is  where 
most  of  us  fail.  Our  weakness  men- 
tally and  therefore  physically,  nine 
times  out  of  ten,  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
we  do  not  command  our  mental  forces, 

64 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

that  we  do  not  know  how  to  concen- 
trate our  mental  powers;  that  we  no 
sooner  touch  one  subject  than  we  are 
drawn  away  to  something  else.  Yet  I 
want  to  affirm  that  if  any  man  or  woman 
is  really  in  earnest  in  this  matter,  they 
can  cultivate  their  powers  of  mental 
concentration  just  as  truly  as  any  other 
power.  The  first  thing  is  to  recognize 
its  real  need  in  your  life.  Then  realizing 
that  you  cannot  be  any  better,  mentally 
or  physically,  until  you  cultivate  these 
powers,  set  yourself  to  the  task.  Let 
it  be  by  the  systematic  and  persistent 
practice  of  holding  your  mind  steadily 
to  the  subject  in  hand.  With  a  book 
before  you,  or  in  the  quiet  hour  as  you 
sit  alone,  take  some  uplifting  thought 
into  your  mind  and  resolve  to  shut  out 
every  other  thought  for  the  time  being. 
Suppose  you  take  the  thought,  "  I  am 
God's  child."  Approach  it  from  one 
direction  then  from  another.     "  Who 

65 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

is  God  ?  "  and  "  What  does  it  mean  to 
be  God's  child?  "  or,  "  If  I  am  God's 
child,  what  is  my  relation  to  Him  ?  ' 
"  If  I  am  God's  child,  what  part  of 
God  is  it  that  I  possess,  that  I  can 
appropriate  and  use  to  my  own  up- 
building ? "  Think  all  around  the 
thought  suggested,  and  then  think 
back  again.  Look  at  its  truths  from 
this  standpoint  and  from  that,  but 
concentrate  your  mind  on  the  one 
central  thought,  to  the  exclusion  of 
everything  else.  Exercise  your  mind 
in  this  way  daily,  and  note  the  results. 
You  will  come  forth  from  such  an 
experience  with  a  sense  of  power  that 
you  have  never  felt  before,  with  your 
mind  renewed,  your  strength  quickened 
and  your  confidence  in  God  and  your- 
self wonderfully  increased. 

Then  there  is  needed  the  cultivation 
of  peace  and  restfulness.  A  few  years 
ago  a  well-known   German  physician 

m 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

visited  this  country.  On  his  return  he 
wrote  that  he  had  discovered  in  the 
increasingly  prevalent  nervous  break- 
down of  the  American  people  a  new 
disease,  which  he  called  "  Americani- 
tis."  Every  doctor  knows  that  nervous 
breakdown,  in  the  last  analysis,  is  due 
to  mental  conditions.  It  is  the  nervous 
hurry,  the  waste  of  nervous  energy 
due  to  lack  of  self-control,  that  results 
in  so  many  different  forms  of  nervous 
disorders.  All  this  could  be  checked 
and  controlled  and  cured,  if  we  would 
simply  take  pains  to  cultivate  in  our- 
selves peace,  restfulness  and  quiet- 
ness. 

I  know  a  woman  who  found  herself 
getting  into  a  very  nervous  condition, 
and  in  consequence  giving  way  to  an 
impatient  spirit  in  her  speech,  until 
the  habit  seemed  fixed.  She  finally 
realized  that  the  fault  was  altogether 
with  herself,  that  it  lay  in  her  own  lack 

67 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

of  mental  poise,  and  she  said,  "  I  am 
going  to  conquer  this  thing."  She 
pictured  clearly  to  herself  the  ideal  of 
self-control  and  patience,  and  finally 
resolved  not  to  utter  one  impatient 
word  for  a  week.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  the  habit  was  broken.  Practise 
self-control  and  self-poise  as  you  would 
practise  your  music  at  the  piano  or 
your  problems  in  the  school  room  or 
your  exercises  in  the  gymnasium.  Be 
dead  in  earnest  in  winning  the  victory 
over  yourself  by  developing  your  powers 
to  the  full.  It  will  take  time  to  reach 
perfection,  but  that  is  what  we  are 
here  for,  and  it  can  be  done. 

One  last  essential  is  the  cultivation 
of  silence.  If  men  and  women  would 
simply  stop  in  the  midst  of  their  busy 
life  for  a  few  moments  every  day,  and 
be  still,  and  in  the  silence  think  upon 
the  great  realities  of  life,  they  would  be 
amazed  at  the  result.    I  have  a  friend, 

68 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

who  is  a  manager  of  a  street  railway 
system   in  one   of  the   Western  cities, 
who  told  me  a  few  years  ago  that,  in  the 
multiplicity  of  his  duties,  he  found  he 
was  losing  all  control  of  himself  and 
was  unable  to  do  his  required  work. 
He  made  it  a  rule  every  day  after  lunch, 
to  go  upstairs  to  a  room  by  himself,  in 
the    building   where   he    worked,    and 
spend  a  half  hour  alone.    I  asked  him 
if  he  prayed.    He  said,  "  No,  I  do  not 
believe  you  would  call   it  prayer.     I 
close  my  eyes  and  just  stop  and  think 
carefully  and  slowly  and  clearly  about 
the  things  which  are  really  worth  while 
in  life;   and  I  have  found  I  cannot  do 
without   it   now."     If    we   could   but 
realize  the  necessity  of  taking  time  to 
go  away  into  the  Silence,  and  just  let 
our  feverish  lives  sink  down  to  some  of 
these   deep,   eternal   principles   of  life 
and  religion,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  that  would  send  us  back  to  our 

69 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

work  with  greater  physical  vitality, 
greater  buoyancy  and  greater  strength. 
Do  not  misconstrue  my  meaning. 
Do  not  imagine  me  as  saying  that  when 
you  are  sick  or  weak  all  you  have  to 
do  is  to  think  you  are  well,  and  you 
are  well.  This  is  a  caricature  on  mental 
healing.  I  have  not  said  that.  What 
I  have  said  is  that  when  you  are  sick, 
your  mental  condition  and  your 
thoughts  are  far  more  important  than 
the  physical  effects  from  which  you 
suffer.  Exactly  as  you  take  care  of 
the  nourishment  of  the  body,  just  as 
you  see  to  it  that  three  times  a  day  you 
eat  the  proper  food  in  the  proper 
quantities,  so  the  mind,  which  lies  back 
of  all  physical  conditions,  must  receive 
its  proper  nourishment  in  the  form  of 
health-producing  thoughts,  if  you  are 
to  eradicate  the  primary  cause  of  your 
disorder;  and  it  is  in  your  power  to 
give    the    right    food    to    your    mind. 

70 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

Nourish  your  mind  with  these  thoughts 
of  faith,  hope  and  love,  these  thoughts 
of  confidence  and  composure,  cheer- 
fulness and  hope,  and  you  will  begin  to 
see  changes  taking  place  in  your  ab- 
normal or  disordered  physical  con- 
dition. 

There  are  four  ways  in  which  mental 
therapeutics  can  be  applied  in  one's 
own  personal  life.  First  of  all,  by  the 
direct  power  of  the  sub-conscious  mind 
inherent  in  itself.  This  is  what  the 
doctor  would  call  the  vis  medicatrix 
naturae.  It  is  what  the  doctor  means 
when  he  says  in  certain  cases,  "  We 
have  done  all  we  can.  Now  we  must 
let  nature  do  the  rest."  All  intelligent 
physicians  know  that  this  "  power  of 
nature '  is  the  power  of  the  sub- 
conscious mind.  In  the  case  where  the 
doctor  says,  "  We  can  do  no  more, 
there  is  no  hope,"  and  yet  the  patient 
slowly  comes  back  to  life,  the  recovery 

71 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

is  due  to  the  remedial  powers  of  nature, 
or  the  power  of  the  sub-conscious  mind. 
In  the  second  place,  there  is  the  power 
of  the  sub-conscious  mind  influenced 
directly  by  external  suggestion;  where 
the  trained  and  skillful  practitioner 
by  his  own  suggestion,  or  the  wise 
parent  in  the  case  of  the  child,  calls 
into  activity  these  remedial  and  cura- 
tive powers  of  the  mind.  In  the  third 
place,  there  is  the  power  of  the  sub- 
conscious mind  influenced  indirectly 
by  the  conscious  mind,  because  of  faith 
in  persons,  systems,  places,  etc.  And 
lastly,  there  is  the  power  of  the  auto- 
suggestion which  the  sick  person  sends 
to  the  sub-conscious  mind  himself,  by 
his  determination  to  get  well,  shake  off 
illness,  ignore  pain,  etc. 

Perhaps  you  are  thinking,  "  This  is 
a  beautiful  theory,  but  will  these  prin- 
ciples work  ?  "  They  have  worked  in 
multitudes  of  cases.     I  could  tell  you 

n 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

of  a  man,  of  whom  I  know,  bound  hand 
and  foot  by  the  appetite  for  strong  drink 
for  twenty  years.  He  came  into  the 
realization  of  his  own  powers  through 
this  method,  and  to-day  is  free  and 
doing  a  man's  work  in  the  world.  I 
could  tell  in  detail  of  a  man  who 
has  had  a  bitter  up-hill  struggle  for 
forty  years,  who  came  to  the  verge  of 
suicide  because  he  felt  there  was  noth- 
ing left  for  him  in  life  —  a  complete 
nervous  breakdown.  That  man  to-day, 
after  having  practised  these  principles 
for  only  three  weeks,  is  back  again  at 
his  occupation,  earning  his  livelihood, 
happy  and  strong.  Or  I  could  tell 
you  of  a  case  described  to  me  within 
a  fortnight,  of  a  woman  who  came  from 
a  Western  city.  For  thirty  long  years 
she  had  been  the  victim  of  fears  of 
every  kind,  and  had  developed  into  a 
complete  nervous  wreck.  The  skilled 
physician    who    examined    her    said, 

73 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

"  There  is  no  use  trying  to  do  anything 
for  her  by  mental  suggestion;  her 
case  is  extreme;  it  is  perfectly  hope- 
less; nobody  can  help  her."  That 
woman,  after  four  weeks'  treatment,  has 
gone  back  to  her  home  again,  per- 
fectly strong  and  in  her  right  mind. 
These  are  a  few  results  about  which  I 
happen  to  know  personally.  However 
it  may  seem  to  you,  the  individuals  who 
will  take  these  principles  and  incor- 
porate them  in  their  lives,  making  them 
the  basis  of  daily  experience,  will  reap 
the  same  results  that  have  come  to 
many  others. 

The  timid  and  fearful  child  who  has 
lost  sight  of  his  father  in  the  crowded 
street,  cries  out  with  joy  and  reassur- 
ance, as  he  comes  again  into  his  father's 
presence  and  grasps  his  hand.  The 
crowd  may  jostle  him,  but  he  is  no 
longer  afraid.  The  darkness  may  be 
intense,  but  it  does  not  frighten  him 

74 


PHYSICAL   WHOLENESS 

now.  His  father  is  there,  and  he  holds 
his  father's  hand;  and  as  they  walk 
together  through  the  night  the  child 
knows  naught  save  the  perfect  con- 
fidence and  love,  that  cast  out  all  fear. 
In  setting  forth  the  psychological  side 
of  mental  healing  and  while  believing 
that  Suggestive  Therapeutics  must  be 
put  upon  a  scientific  and  rational 
basis,  nevertheless  I  would  not  have 
you  miss  its  religious  significance.  In 
addition  to  the  scientific  principles  in- 
volved, the  deep  need  of  our  lives,  the 
great  need  of  the  age  in  which  we  live, 
is  to  catch  afresh  the  vision  of  God. 
It  is  possible  for  me  to  realize, 
like  the  little  child,  that  God's  hand 
clasps  mine;  that,  in  spite  of  the  dark- 
ness and  the  storm,  in  spite  of  the 
struggle  and  the  crowd,  in  spite  of  all 
the  phantoms  of  fear  and  dread,  I  am 
in  His  presence  now  and  always; 
nothing  in  the  whole  universe  of  space, 

*5 


PHYSICAL  WHOLENESS 

nothing  in  the  whole  eternity  of  time 
can  ever  harm  me,  can  ever  utterly 
discourage  me,  for  I  am  God's  child  and 
His  life  is  my  life.  As  we  grow  into 
such  a  consciousness  of  the  divine 
power  resident  within  us,  the  hardest 
problems  will  be  solved,  darkness  and 
dread,  doubt,  and  uncertainty,  with  all 
the  malign  diseases  of  soul  and  body, 
will  gradually  but  surely  disappear. 


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